the gatekeeper's boat
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: She may not be a different kind of girl, but she has an existence all the same.
1. distant

**A/N:** Written for the Another Mega Prompts Challenge, writing prompt #22 - use the random generator [ random-words]. Set the default to 50. Those words should appear in a poetry collection containing 20 poems.

Words in this poem: sin, stranger, comfortable

* * *

 **the gatekeeper's boat**  
 _1\. distant_

She sees many people:  
many sinners, many sins

And many innocent people  
swept by jealous tides.

All of them are strangers  
in a world that's drifted far  
from her time.

It's not a comfortable breeze  
like the sweet, unjudging sea  
because even the mountains judged,  
even the people still judge

But it's been so far,  
and so long…  
She's removed, she thinks.  
She is. Removed


	2. eternal fates

**A/N:** Words in this poem: settled, unknown

* * *

 **the gatekeeper's boat**  
 _2\. eternal fates_

She'd had her chance to escape  
this fate and she'd settled,  
instead, for a contract  
of unknown length,  
to spare one  
of a million stars  
she'd condemned.


	3. regretting rights

**A/N:** Words in this poem: pine, windy, coil, neck

* * *

 **the gatekeeper's boat**  
 _3\. regretting rights_

She didn't have the luxury to pine  
for a nicer life; she'd lost that  
long ago, when she'd pleaded  
with the gods on windy mountains  
for freedom from chains  
she'd ill-deserved, and instead had them  
coil around her slender neck  
for her execution.

She became the everlasting demon  
that rowed the masses to hell

And so she chose,  
and since she chose, she lost the right  
to lament the path  
she chose.


	4. roulette

**A/N:** Words in this poem: card, gaudy, oil, gloves

* * *

 **the gatekeeper's boat**  
 _4\. roulette_

They didn't bet their lives  
or their fate; they played  
card games in casino parlours  
and smoked pot  
and stripped off gaudy gloves  
till their emotions  
were the only things they wore  
and they'd twisted  
like oil immersions in a water base.

If they'd once looked well-groomed,  
it was just a costume, just a mask  
and her job was to strip them down  
and watch the smoke twist them  
till even the purest souls  
turned murky brown.


	5. yolk

**A/N:** Words in this poem: tank, egg

* * *

 **the gatekeeper's boat**  
 _5\. yolk_

Peace was an illusion.  
So quickly things spiralled  
from control.

Even they, the instruments  
were suddenly running  
on empty tanks

And the town  
was a splattered egg.


	6. the reason for her existence

**A/N:** Words used in this poem: righteous, force, hand

* * *

 **the gatekeeper's boat**  
 _6\. the reason for her existence_

They call her unnecessary.

She neither is nor isn't.  
She just is.

She chose long ago  
but she chose a now,  
not a forever,  
and she faces a forever.

She is not righteous,  
nor is she wrong.  
She does not guide.  
Nor does she force.

She is simply the hand  
that rows the boat  
and opens the doors  
to hell.


	7. costs and payments

**A/N:** Words in this poem: dimes, cheap

* * *

 **the gatekeeper's boat**  
 _7\. costs and payments_

Her cost is abstract  
and sometimes  
they fail to grasp  
weight  
of that cost.

They don't pay in yen  
or dimes  
or dollars.

They think it's a favour.  
They think it's free.

It's not.  
It's not even cheap

Because there's a weight  
on the world  
every time the strings are pulled:

A burden,  
those behind  
have to bear.


	8. ordinary days

**A/N:** Words in this poem: linen

* * *

 **the gatekeeper's boat**  
 _8\. ordinary days_

She is but a ghost  
and yet she still  
cleans, and dresses  
and does the laundry,  
folds the linen,  
sweeps the floors,

Lives a domesticated life  
outside the hell  
of the world.


	9. all the quarrels

**A/N:** Words in this poem: sister, argument, rude, entertain

* * *

 **the gatekeeper's boat**  
 _9\. all the quarrels_

There's not a quarrel  
they haven't seen.

Brother and sister arguments,  
a moment of rudeness that persists  
for short eternity,  
the butt of someone else's jokes  
for someone else's entertainment,  
the jealousy of someone else's  
successes…

And then the all-out wars  
they rarely have to touch  
if only because  
the ones who fight themselves  
rarely think to call.


	10. wasted trips

**A/N:** Words in this poem: authority, trick, meek, vacation

* * *

 **the gatekeeper's boat**  
 _10\. wasted trips_

She knows when they may summon her.  
It's not always the case  
and then she can just watch  
them play the roles themselves.  
Sometimes they work things out.  
Sometimes they don't.  
Either way, so long as the names aren't written  
she can only watch, and wait  
until she isn't needed anymore.

She can't make them write.  
She hasn't the authority  
or the means to trick  
them, or cower the meek  
pretending they are strong.

If they don't, then it's an unplanned  
vacation for her.


	11. the easy way

**A/N:** Words in this poem: quickest, even

* * *

 **the gatekeeper's boat**  
 _11\. the easy way_

It is unnecessary,  
even lazy  
but they exist  
and because they exist  
they are used.

It is the quickest way  
after all  
for revenge.  
All they have to do  
is write a name.

It's even too fast  
to stay their hands  
with regret.


	12. get used to it

**A/N:** Words in this poem: spray, rain

* * *

 **the gatekeeper's boat**  
 _12\. get used to it_

When she was new  
and young, her kimono  
would be soaked  
with the spray of waves  
and the rain of splashes  
from oars.

Now they're stiff with saltwater  
and forever dry.


	13. clean ways

**A/N:** Words in this poem: bloody

* * *

 **the gatekeeper's boat**  
 _13\. clean ways_

Their methods, at least,  
are clean.  
Humans, by themselves  
can be bloody  
and wasteful

And really,  
all hell needs  
are their souls.


	14. her laws

**A/N:** Words in this poem: respect, great, allowed

* * *

 **the gatekeeper's boat**  
 _14\. her laws_

Even she has laws to respect  
and things that aren't allowed.  
They may disagree  
or agree  
or want something less  
or more

But however great  
her own opinion is,  
she must keep it  
to herself.

Once the string is pulled  
she is bound.  
If the string is not pulled  
she is bound:  
she cannot pull herself.

She can only follow the free strings  
to their ensnared  
and cart them off  
to hell.


	15. ropes

**A/N:** Words in this poem: scarf

* * *

 **the gatekeeper's boat**  
 _15\. ropes_

Sometimes her new role is a warm scarf  
around her neck, giving her meaning,  
given her a life to live

And, at other times, it's a noose  
that slowly chokes her  
to death.


	16. fulfilling contracts

**A/N:** Words in this poem: interest, concerned

* * *

 **the gatekeeper's boat**  
 _16\. fulfilling contracts_

The ones who write the names  
never forget  
the price they've written away  
when they did.

It didn't interest them,  
at the time,  
what a hefty price  
it was.

They were far too desperate then.

It concerned them, though,  
when the time came for them  
to die

And go to hell  
with the very person they'd sent  
there themselves.


	17. the simple things

**A/N:** Words in this poem: beef, ripe, oatmeal

* * *

 **the gatekeeper's boat**  
 _17\. simple things_

Sometimes, she misses the simple things.  
Beef stew in the evenings,  
oatmeal in the mornings,  
ripe fruits to snack on  
during the day  
they picked themselves…

But with those memories  
comes the sadness,  
and the rage

And the price was really  
never hers  
to pay.


	18. empty role

**A/N:** Words in this poem: theory, point

* * *

 **the gatekeeper's boat**  
 _18\. empty role_

She wondered who her predecessor was.  
She had no name, no face.  
Sometimes, she entertained the theory  
that her predecessor  
didn't exist at all.

But then what was the point  
in creating this role for her?  
She didn't know.  
And it wasn't for her to know.


	19. their human reach

**A/N:** Words in this poem: giraffe

* * *

 **the gatekeeper's boat**  
 _19\. their human reach_

Some people craned their necks  
like giraffes, looking  
for something: ambition,  
or just entertainment.

Some people hunched their backs  
and followed the crowd  
like cattle, or sheep.

Whatever the reason,  
whoever the client,  
if they write a name  
then she comes.


	20. names

**A/N:** Words in this poem: deeply, cabbage

* * *

 **the gatekeeper's boat**  
 _20\. names_

She's long since avoided looking  
too deeply into names  
that are written  
in her ledger.

It has no bearing as to which doll  
in a lone of cabbage patch kids  
she gives to the writer  
with a string around their neck.

It have no bearing as to which kimono  
she dresses in, or which skirt,  
or which dress.

Names are just names  
after all.


End file.
